Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Media reports of questionable payments by a company owned by
banned former world soccer body FIFA vice president and Asian Football
Confederation (AFC) president Mohammed Bin Hammam to another disgraced former
FIFA executive committee member, Jack Warner, raise renewed questions about
Qatar’s controversial winning of the right to host the 2022 World Cup as well
the integrity of FIFA and the AFC’s efforts to root out corruption.

The
Daily Telegraph reported that the Doha-based Kemco Group wholly owned by
Mr. Bin Hammam, a Qatari national who was banned by FIFA in 2012 because of “conflicts
of interest” during his AFC presidency and FIFA vice presidency, had paid some $2
million to former FIFA vice president Jack Warner and others related to him shortly
after Qatar was awarded the World Cup.

In a statement to the Telegraph, the Qatari committee
responsible for World Cup-related infrastructure rejected any knowledge that
would call the payments into question. “The 2022 Bid Committee strictly adhered
to FIFA’s bidding regulations in compliance with their code of ethics. The Supreme
Committee for Delivery and Legacy and the individuals involved in the 2022 Bid
Committee are unaware of any allegations surrounding business dealings between
private individuals."

Mr. Warner resigned from FIFA in 2011 to avoid investigation
by the group about his role in an alleged attempt by Mr. Bin Hammam to buy the
votes of Caribbean soccer officials in his campaign to unseat Sepp Blatter as
head of FIFA. Mr. Bin Hammam withdrew his candidacy because of the corruption
allegations and has since insisted that he is innocent. Mr. Bin Hammam ended an
almost two-year effort to fight the FIFA ban under pressure from Qatar.

The renewed focus on Mr. Bin Hammam’s activities comes as
Qatar is under severe pressure to reform its labour system that deprives the
country’s majority population of foreign workers of basic rights in accordance
with international standards. It also comes as FIFA is debating a change of its
rules to make the AFC president automatically a member of its executive
committee.

The disclosure by The Daily Telegraph puts renewed pressure
on AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa to act on the
recommendations of an internal audit by PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) of

Mr. Bin
Hammam’s financial management of the group. Sheikh Salman, despite electoral
promises to the contrary, has effectively squashed the audit that advised the
AFC to seek legal counsel for possible civil and legal action against the Mr.
Bin Hammam and review or cancellation of a $1 billion master rights agreement
with Singapore-based World Sports Group (WSG) that Mr. Bin Hammam
negotiated.

“Significant payments (totalling $250,000) have also been
made to Mr. Jack Warner for which no reason has been provided. We note that Mr.
Warner and Mr. Hammam have been subject to averse media coverage concerning
alleged corruption,” the PwC report said. The payments included the purchase of
a camera and a Samsonite bag.

A 54-page Singapore court ruling rejecting a demand by WSG
that this writer disclose his sources because of an alleged breach of
confidentiality noted earlier this year: “Corruption anywhere raises serious
questions as it inevitably undermines good governance. If occurring in
international organizations, it would not only undermine good governance but
also distort international competitiveness and subvert fair play…. To adapt a
well-known dictum, sunlight is the best disinfectant for corruption.”

Mr. Bin Hammam’s banning and Sheikh Salman’s moves to squash
further investigation of allegations of wrongdoing came amid the worst scandal
in FIFA history with approximately half of the group’s leadership having been
accused of corruption or penalized. FIFA has since introduced a number of
reforms that have failed to remove the taint of an old-boys’ club that is accountable
only to itself.

The payments disclosed by The Daily Telegraph are certain to
be included in an investigation of the Qatari bid by FIFA investigator Michael
Garcia. Mr. Garcia is expected to submit his report later this year.

Qatar has consistently denied wrongdoing in its bid for the
World Cup. It has also asserted that Mr. Bin Hammam despite his prominent
position in world soccer was not involved in its bid. Qatar was believed to
have been unhappy with Mr. Bin Hammam’s bid for the FIFA presidency because it
feared that simultaneously winning the World Cup and the top position in world
soccer might be too much.

Controversy over Qatar’s bid has been fuelled by a lack of
transparency on the part of the Gulf state as well as envy and sour grapes on
the part of competitors who committed far less funds to their World Cup bids.

The integrity of FIFA and AFC efforts to combat corruption
and wrongdoing was called into question by Mr. Blatter himself when he
effectively in February 2011 confirmed and justified an alleged Qatari transgression
in its World Cup.

In a BBC
interview, Mr. Blatter confirmed that Qatar and Spain and Portugal colluded
to trade votes for their respective 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids despite an
earlier official FIFA investigation that concluded that there had been no vote
swapping. Mr. Blatter went on to effectively whitewash the alleged violation of
FIFA bidding rules.

“I’ll be honest, there was a bundle of votes between Spain
and Qatar,” the Daily Telegraph quoted Mr. Blatter as telling the BBC. “But it
was a nonsense. It was there but it didn’t work, not for one and not for the
other side.”

The alleged deal between Qatar and Spain and Portugal is
believed to have involved seven of the 22 FIFA executive committee votes in the
December 2010 awarding of 2022 World Cup to Qatar and the 2018 tournament to
Russia, The Iberian bid won seven votes in two rounds of voting before it was
eliminated while Qatar won with 14 votes.

The risks that governance of world soccer will be called
into question by the new revelations of questionable payments by Mr. Bin Hammam
to Mr. Warner were enhanced by the fact that groups like FIFA and the AFC no
longer fully control the issue.

Well-placed sources said that the US Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) is investigating Mr. Warner, including his relationship to
Mr. Bin Hammam and the Qatari bid. The sources said that one of Mr. Warner’s
sons was cooperating with the inquiry.

James M. Dorsey is a Senior Fellow at the S.
Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological
University. He is also co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute
for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer blog and a forthcoming book with the same
title.

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James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile